AC Installation in Palm Bay, FL
A new air conditioner in Palm Bay will run from March through December every year. Tell us about the house, and a licensed contractor who covers Brevard County will get in touch.
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Your AC in Palm Bay works ten months a year
March through December, your air conditioner is running. That leaves a short break before it starts again. Summer afternoons average 90°F, and the unit sized for that heat needs to move a lot of heat out of the house, day after day, for most of the year.
A new system installed here also has to survive what comes with Florida weather. Brevard County has logged 99 damaging wind events and 50 hail events over the past ten years, some with hail up to 2 inches. The outdoor unit sits outside through all of it. If your new air conditioner is a central system built since 2023, it has to meet a federal minimum of 14.3 SEER2, and running as many months as it does here, the efficiency rating is worth paying attention to.
- 10 months
- March through December, your air conditioner is on duty
- 90°F
- the average summer afternoon it cools against
- 50 hail events
- in ten years, and hail bends the fins on outdoor coils
- 13.4 SEER2
- the federal minimum any new unit must meet
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
A higher-efficiency unit would save about $30 a year to run in Brevard County compared with a new unit at the federal minimum.
Estimates for a typical Brevard County home, from EIA household energy data, Florida fuel prices and NOAA climate normals. Your home will differ.
Florida requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license.
The Construction Industry Licensing Board tests HVAC contractors before it licenses them, and the license belongs to the contractor, not to any single job. That means the state has already checked this contractor's qualifications once, and keeps a record of who they are, before they ever set foot in your house.
For an air conditioner installation, that license is not the only check. Most cities and counties in Florida require a permit for this job, and an inspection once the work is done. The permit puts the installation on record with the local building office, and the inspection confirms the work meets code, separate from whatever the state license already covers.
Sources: Florida Legislature · Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
- What size air conditioner does my house need?
- The right size comes from a load calculation, not a rule of thumb based on square footage. A contractor works out heat gain room by room, counting your windows, insulation, ceiling height, and duct layout, and matches that number to a unit. Here, with cooling needed March through December and summer afternoons averaging 90°F, getting this right matters more than in a place that only runs the system a few months a year. Too big and it cools the air fast but leaves it damp, too small and it runs constantly and still can't keep up on the hottest days.
- Should I replace the whole system or just the outdoor unit?
- If your indoor coil and outdoor unit were installed together and are close in age, replace both at the same time. Matching an old coil to a new outdoor unit strains the new equipment and can void its warranty, since the two are engineered to work as a pair. A contractor can check whether your coil and refrigerant lines are compatible with newer equipment before deciding. Since new systems built since 2023 have to meet a 14.3 SEER2 minimum, replacing just the outdoor unit against an old coil often means giving up much of that efficiency gain anyway.
- Do HVAC contractors in Palm Bay need a state license to work on my home?
- Yes. Florida requires HVAC contractors to hold a state license, issued by the Construction Industry Licensing Board. Ask to see the license number before work starts, and you can look it up with the board to confirm it's active and covers the work being done.